Why Are My Plants Turning Yellow?

Gardening is considered a relaxing hobby, but even the greenest thumbs sometimes see red. They may be fruit-stealing squirrels or dirt-moving moles, but one of the most common causes of distress in gardeners is seeing a cage of tomatoes, a bean fence, or a row of cucumbers wrapped in sickly yellow.

Known as chlorosis, the yellowing of plant leaves can indicate a variety of health problems. It's like a persistent cough in humans - it probably means you're not okay, but unless you're in tune with its subtleties, It could be a symptom. Too broad to diagnose your specific disease.

However, the direct cause of chlorosis is not a mystery. It is the visible result of low chlorophyll, the pigment used by plants to capture sunlight for photosynthesis.

Because chlorophyll gives leaves their green color, an inadequate supply makes plants pale green, yellow, or yellowish-white.

And since chlorophyll is the key to a plant's food-producing capacity, a plant suffering from chlorosis may not survive if the source of its chlorophyll shortage is not addressed.2 And this is where things can get murky. .

At first glance, a yellow sheet may not appear to contain many clues to the underlying problem. But if you know what to look for, a few variables about how chlorosis develops can provide a surprising amount of information.

Nutrient deficiency

A common reason for chlorosis is poor nutrition. In addition to hydrogen, carbon, and oxygen, plants need more than a dozen mineral nutrients to survive, all of which must come from their roots.

A soil test is the best way to find out what is missing, but a quick test by looking at the leaves can clear up the situation. Nutrient-deficient plants often have distinct patterns of chlorosis, such as green veins with yellow tissue between them, first appearing on specific leaves.

Some nutrient deficiencies cause older leaves to turn yellow first; others start with new growth. This is because certain nutrients are "mobile" in plants, meaning that a plant can move them from one leaf to another as needed.

When a plant runs out of a mobile nutrient like nitrogen, it can extract more of its older leaves, helping the plant keep growing (at least for a time).

The loss of nitrogen causes older leaves to turn yellow, while new shoots turn green. However, an immobile nutrient like iron is essentially trapped in older leaves. If a plant runs out of iron, it will develop chlorosis on the new leaves, while the old foliage remains green.

In addition to nitrogen, mobile plant nutrients include phosphorus, potassium, magnesium, and nickel. In the property category, iron joins calcium, boron, copper, manganese, and zinc.

After narrowing down the suspects to mobile or immobile nutrients, look for more clues about how a leaf is turning yellow.

Nitrogen and potassium deficiencies appear in older leaves, for example, but while nitrogen chlorosis is relatively uniform across the leaf and its veins, potassium chlorosis tends to start at the leaf edges and in the spaces between the veins.

Yellowing of young leaves may indicate iron or calcium, but iron chlorosis is characterized by uniform yellowing with small green veins. For more details, see this guide from the Texas Agricultural Extension Service.

Pests

Unlike nutrient deficiency, the symptoms of which are often symmetrically distributed in plant tissue, pest problems tend to develop in asymmetric patterns. This includes insect damage and leaf spots, a common indication of fungal or bacterial diseases in plants.

Insect damage can lead to chlorosis on affected leaves, but it can also be safely controlled with non-toxic methods like insect repellent plants, neem oil, and homemade organic pesticides. Most garden insects are harmless or even useful.

There are many safe ways to control mold in your garden, from rotating crops to spraying baking soda, but one of the first steps is usually to control soil moisture. Plants need water to grow, of course, but too much water can create favorable conditions for fungal pathogens.

 

Enjoy This Video Tutorial About Why Are My Plants Turning Yellow?

Source: Fraser Valley Rose Farm

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Last update on 2024-11-01 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API

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